Aisles and aisles of beauty products and magazines, emphasizing how perfect our façade needs to be. God looks deeper. God chose a shepherd because of his heart.

You cannot make a heart becoming more beautiful with any external cover. Hearts are shaped and strengthened one decision at a time; one worship experience at a time; and one friendship at a time. The body will fade, no matter how much we try to cover and disguise it, but our hearts can grow more beautiful throughout our whole life.

Looks can be deceiving. Bitter, cruel, and evil hearts can be wrapped in a ‘beautiful’ body. And joyous, generous, and kind hearts can be inside a broken shell. We have to invest time and energy with someone to know where the true beauty lies. Everyone has the ability to allow God to make their hearts beautiful, even when that aisle has pain, suffering, and heart ache.

How much emphasis do we place on the exterior? And when we compare other people’s exterior with our own interior, how close do we really feel to each other and to God?